Western Massachusetts schools make no apologies for suspension rates

Grades 9 -12: This map of Western Massachusetts high school districts in Hampden, Hampshire and Franklin Counties shows the number of records — including in-school and out-of school suspensions and expulsions — for students in grades 9-12. (Mandy Hofmockel/MassLive.com)

Across Western Massachusetts, school officials make no apologies for their district’s suspension rates.

They say a number of factors – from the specter of the Columbine, Colo., school shootings in 1999 to a new emphasis on bullying prevention – have forced schools to adopt tough, but flexible discipline policies.

“We are very serious about school safety,” said Christopher Collins, vice chairman of the Springfield School Committee and a former school principal.

“But we try to avoid out-of-school suspensions whenever possible; there are a series of steps we try first,” he said.

Still, Springfield reported more than 3,000 out-of-school suspensions last year, the highest number statewide. Boston, Lynn, Worcester and Brockton made up the top five, with more than 2,000 suspensions each, according to an analysis by the New England Center for Investigative Reporting.

The 3,000-plus figure for out-of-school suspension days represents a small fraction of the district’s 20,164 overall suspension days, reflecting the policy of reserving out-of-school suspensions for violence or highly disruptive behavior.

Lesser measures – parent conferences, in-house suspensions, or transfers to other schools – were used more often, allowing students to remain in class.

Grades 6-8: This map of Western Massachusetts middle school districts in Hampden, Hampshire and Franklin Counties shows the number of records — including in-school and out-of school suspensions and expulsions — for students in grades 6-8. (Mandy Hofmockel/MassLive.com)

In Springfield, the most suspensions were given to 9th-graders, who missed 5,399 school days due to 1,206 suspensions, the analysis of data from the 2009-2010 school year shows. In first grade, 306 school days were lost to 114 suspensions, the lowest total for any grade.

Suspension rates fluctuate sharply from school to school during that period, the figures show.

Disparities were apparent at the middle school level, too, with Duggan handing out 90 suspensions while Van Sickle, Forest Park and Kiley reporting 309, 316 and 333, respectively.

Perhaps the most striking contrast can be seen in the number suspensions for “ unassigned,” or minor, suspensions.

Nearly two-thirds of the 309 suspensions at Forest Park were for unassigned incidents; at the Gerena Middle School, by contrast, none of the 102 suspensions was listed as unassigned.

To achieve a consistent approach toward suspensions, the School Department adopted a code of conduct in 2002 identifying 54 categories of violations and spelling out punishment for each one.

But the sheer range of infractions – from skipping school and wearing lewd T-shirts to arson, kidnapping and homicide – leaves room for discretion, as the figures suggest.

Springfield School Committee member Antonette E. Pepe said there should be no glaring discrepancies on how schools handle and report disciplinary cases.

While some students might be disciplined for minor infractions, there is a corresponding pressure on principals to keep suspension totals down to protect their school’s image, Pepe said.

“Principals end up getting punished for having too many suspensions,” she said.

Grades K-5: This map of Western Massachusetts elementary school districts in Hampden, Hampshire and Franklin Counties shows the number of records — including in-school and out-of school suspensions and expulsions — for students in grades K-5. (Mandy Hofmockel/MassLive.com)

In Holyoke, Superintendent David L. Dupont cited Columbine and the nationally publicized suicides of two local students as a factors shaping school security policy.

Carl J. Walker-Hoover, 11, a student of New Leadership Charter School in Springfield, hanged himself April 6, 2009; Phoebe N. Prince, a South Hadley High School freshman, hanged herself Jan. 14, 2010. Both had complained about bullying by classmates.

In that context, Dupont said, statistics that show thousands of disciplines were issued in the 2009-2010 school year are unsurprising.

“It’s like a high degree of alertness,” Dupont said.

Holyoke in that school year registered more than 8,000 classroom incidents in Grades 1 to 12, including fights and other physical attacks, sexual harassment, thefts and threats. That resulted in 2,678 suspensions and 8,333 classroom days lost, said the New England Center for Investigative Reporting.

“Nothing is taken as a joke,” Dupont said. “If it rises to the level where police have to be notified, the teachers do that.”

Like Springfield schools, Holyoke’s statistics show an escalating number of offenses through the grades that peaks at Grade 9 at 2,829, and drops significantly in the three upper grades: Grade 10, 1,205; Grade 11, 665, and Grade 12, 687.

Dupont said many problem students drop out after freshman year, but something else is at work: students in Grade 10 are maturing and the idea of graduating from high school begins to enter their thinking.

These five school districts from Hampden, Hampshire and Franklin Counties have a number of records per 100 students above the average for the area. (Mandy Hofmockel/MassLive.com)

In Westfield, the approach toward suspensions at Westfield High School is based on “fidelity to the school discipline code” and as a result the school can be seen as having a large number of suspensions, said principal Raymond K. Broderick.

Those suspensions ranged from a partial day to 10-days; last year there were a total of 891 suspensions, he said.

Most resulted from missing class time or violating discipline codes restricting the use of electronics equipment, especially cell phones. First offense for use of cell phone brings students a warning, third offense can result in suspension, he said.

Broderick said zero-tolerance in discipline does work, but he believes flexibility is also needed. “Our suspension numbers are high now because I have no resources to provide alternative programs to students,” he said.

Chicopee Superintendent Richard W. Rege Jr. said the number of out-of-school suspensions has been reduced dramatically since 2002, mostly because teachers are using different disciplinary methods.

“I don’t think Chicopee was ever overly tolerant with respect to what we would expect of behavior. If anything, what we tried to do is get people to give up the impression that external suspension is the answer in every case,” he said.

Instead, teachers use long detentions after school on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and there is also Saturday school for some offenses.

For more disruptive behavior, there are internal suspension rooms, where students spend the day working on their studies but are separated from peers for the entire day. They also have lunch in the room, Rege said.

Students with chronic behavior problems are often referred to Chicopee Academy, the city’s alternative school.

“The reality is long-term suspensions will not help the graduation or dropout rate or help the child be a productive citizen,” Rege said.

This graph shows a breakdown of the number of records at Springfield by grade. Springfield has more than 4,900 records — the most of any district in the state. When other large school districts' records are broken down by grade, their graphs often resemble Springfield's.(Mandy Hofmockel/MassLive.com)

In Agawam, there were 238 incidents in public schools, resulting in a total of 824 days of school missed.

Incidents ranged from possession of illegal drugs with intent to sell in the fourth grade, and tobacco use in seventh grade to physical attacks and the threat of physical attacks throughout the school population.

School Superintendent William P. Sapelli said students know they will be sent home for serious violations of the district’s discipline policy.

“Zero tolerance does work. You don’t turn your head,” Sapelli said.

Suspension is a good tool because it projects the rest of the school population, he said.

Monson School Superintendent Patrice L. Dardenne said having strict disciplinary guidelines is not necessarily a deterrent.

A lot of the acts by students are “spur of the moment” with no thought to possible consequences, according to Dardenne, who said some students see a suspension as a three day vacation “which is not going to change behavior.”

“I don’t think that the act of a suspension is the tool that will change behavior,” he said, adding that anyone bringing a weapon or banned substance to school would face suspension or expulsion.